On the surface, the garden industry in B.C. in spring appears to be little more than a happy-go-lucky exercise in selling beautiful flowers to enthusiastic green thumbs eager to smarten up their backyards.
Behind the facade, however, intense competition goes on to gain access to the wallets of garden lovers.
Thirty years ago, independent garden centres pretty much had the playing field to themselves.
But today they have to fight off serious competitors like Superstore, Home Depot, Rona, Save-On-Foods, Price-Smart and Canadian Tire, all of whom have got into the gardening business in a big way.

Peter Cantley of Loblaws in North Vancouver Superstore

These stores not only sell plants, everything from pansies and petunias to choice trees and shrubs, but also patio furniture, garden tools, fertilizer and a wide range of other garden-related supplies.
In the process, consumers have been persuaded to change shopping habits and look more and more to big box stores, grocery chains and home improvement centres for garden supplies, instead of going to the local independent garden centre.
This shifting trend has not been achieved without significant strategizing by top executives at chain stores, who have long recognized the value of getting a share of the seasonal gardening market.

Leanne Johnson of GardenWorks

These marketing experts have gone after green-thumb dollars with sustained creativity and enthusiasm. There has been detailed work done in preparing the ground for this successful growth.
Peter Cantley runs the floral garden division for the Ontario-based Loblaws chain, which has more than 1,000 stores across Canada, including Superstore, Extra Foods and Independent Grocery stores in B.C.
He was in B.C. recently to check on the quality of plants at stores in Vancouver and on Vancouver Island to ensure they were on the cutting edge with new, exclusive varieties, specially grown for stores under the Loblaws umbrella.
Cantley’s goal for the past decade has been to outperform local garden centres by supplying his stores with top-notch, bargain-priced plants, most of which are sold under the President’s Choice label.

Peter Cantley with plants he selected specifically for the Loblaws chain

“Our strategy is to work closely with breeders and growers to get exclusive lines no one else has. This is how we stay ahead of the game and get a competitive edge.”
In B.C., Loblaws works closely with DeVry Greenhouses in Chilliwack to produce a wide range of specialty plants.
This year, exclusive offerings include a bright red and pink geranium called “Crimson Flame,” a hot “South Pacific” canna lily, plus a sultry orange-yellow dahlia called “Aztec Sunset” along with various food plants and attractive new begonias.
“Every year we visit the California Flower Trials — the showcase for growers around the world in March-April — and that’s where we get our finger on the pulse of trends and all the new introductions,” says Cantley.
“But it would all fall apart if we didn’t concentrate on getting plants grown to perfection by local growers. That is crucial to our success — identifying what consumers want and getting it to them with the quality they expect.”
It was Cantley’s idea to brand high-end plant products with the President’s Choice label, and he also introduced a recycling program to Superstores that allows customers to bring back plastic pots/tags/trays.

Pelargonium ‘Calliope Crimson Flame’ one of the top plants this spring for Loblaws

In Richmond, TSC Nursery on Westminster Highway supplies Home Depot with large quantities of popular shrubs, palms, perennials and flowering trees as well as roses and ground cover plants.
TSC has been doing this for almost two decades and today garden departments at Home Depot stores have grown more diverse to become popular shopping destinations, even for expert gardeners.
“It has been an evolutionary process. Home Depot started out as a kindergarten garden centre years ago with a fairly limited range of product,” says Danielle Earle, TSC sales and marketing manager.
“But over the years, selection has evolved and improved and now Home Depot is definitely a shopping destination for all gardeners. And I see this trend continuing well into the future.”

Dahlia XXL Sunset is one of the bestsellers this spring for Loblaws

Costco stores have also taken a big bite of the market traditionally served by independent garden centres.
Like Loblaws, Costco has forged relationships with local growers to gain access to top-quality plant inventories at bargain prices at key times of the year.
Darvonda Nursery in Langley has worked closely with Costco stores for the last 10 years to supply them exclusively with cut-price lines of Belgian chrysanthemums and poinsettias but also hanging baskets and flower containers in spring.
Burnaby Lake Greenhouses, the biggest wholesale nursery in B.C., has developed significant new business in the past 20 years, supplying bedding plants to top stores like Overwaitea Foods, Save-On-Foods, PriceSmart and Urban Fare.
B.C. garden centres have not been asleep at the switch while all this has gone on.

Canna South Pacific one of the top container plants for Loblaws this spring

They have recognized the challenge and responded with their own vigorous strategy of claiming the higher ground and presenting themselves to consumers as the place where green thumbs can find greater gardening expertise as well as enjoy shopping in a beautiful, floral environment.
Miles Hunter, owner of the Hunter Garden Centres in Vancouver and Surrey, says he winces when he sees bigger stores selling bedding plants and other garden products in spring.
“They are competition for us, as our customers see them as less expensive and that ultimately takes business away from local independent stores.
“Unfortunately, we have to accept that they are part of our industry. They are taking advantage of an opportunity and that is the nature of business.
“But I know we provide better service, better selection and much better-quality product than they do. Many people shop at local independent garden stores because we provide knowledge and experience with our products.”
John Schroeder, owner of Valleybrook Gardens, one of the biggest perennial growers in Western Canada, said growers in B.C. now depend on the box stores for orders and that they could not stay in business if they were only supplying independent garden centres. He estimated that 40 per cent of his business was now supplying box stores compared to nothing 20 years ago.
”Who knows where the future of gardening lies, although I’ve travelled enough and seen enough garden centres around the world to know that unless owners constantly adapt, they will go out of business,” he said. “There was a wonderful golden period of several decades where gardening popularity grew and grew. Garden centres prospered, and the mass market companies could not figure out how to get in on the action.
”Now, they command the major share of the market. The successful garden centres either specialize or execute particularly well, or else expand their market well beyond plants. And very few if any major production nurseries and greenhouses survive without mass market sales.”
Leanne Johnson, chief operating officer of the GardenWorks chain, B.C.’s biggest group of independent garden centres, says her stores, dotted throughout the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island, are fighting back by working more closely with the community to build relationships with avid gardeners as well as creating programs for children to establish a friendly connection for the future.
“We pride ourselves on being the gardening experts. We know when people come to us they are getting quality information and a better range of plants, both rare and unusual as well as reliable plants for our climate.”
Johnson says some of the big box stores bring in garden supplies from Eastern Canada that are not always the best choice for coastal gardens.
“We are very conscious of providing plants and seeds and materials that work for our climate. That is one advantage we have: we know what works in gardens here and we can supply a more diverse range of plants.”
Johnson also believes garden centres work hard to train people to become professional horticulturists with good knowledge and this helps consumers who are looking for quality answers to their gardening.
“There is one good side to all of this … more people are being encouraged to garden. That’s good for us all,” she says.

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